Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

900,000 gather for Mass with Pope Benedict

KRAKOW, Poland — Some 900,000 Poles sang, clapped and waved yellow and white Vatican flags in a soggy field Sunday for Pope Benedict XVI, who urged them to share their faith with other countries in a mostly secular Europe.

Benedict called that the best way to honor his predecessor, John Paul II - one of the themes of his four-day visit to John Paul's homeland.

"I ask you, finally, to share with the other peoples of Europe and the world, not least as a way of honoring the memory of your countryman, who, as the successor of St. Peter, did this with extraordinary power and effectiveness," said Benedict as he concluded his homily during the Mass in the Blonia meadow.

"I ask you to stand firm in your faith! Stand firm in your hope! Stand firm in your love! Amen!" he concluded, speaking in Polish on the last day of his trip.

Benedict has appealed to Poland to serve as a beacon of faith in a Europe that has become mostly secular. The country joined the European Union only two years ago, 15 years after the collapse of communist rule.

The 79-year-old pope has reached out to Poles by delivering parts of his speeches and homilies in Polish, and by retracing beloved native son John Paul II's steps. He visited John Paul's birthplace, Wadowice, and Sunday's Mass was held on the same spot where John Paul also drew large crowds on his return trips to Krakow, where he served as archbishop before becoming pope.

Later in the day, the pope is to make a somber stop at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp before flying back to Rome.

A shadow was cast over the Auschwitz visit by an attack Saturday on Poland's chief rabbi, Michael Schudrich, who is scheduled to say Kaddish, or the Jewish prayer for the dead, during the ceremony led by the pope.

Without giving many details, police said an unidentified assailant used his hands to attack Schudrich in downtown Warsaw before fleeing, but that the rabbi was unhurt. Police said they were treating the incident as a possible anti-Semitic attack.

An error has occurred. Please try again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

Pope Benedict has won applause during his visit to Poland for encouraging prayers for John Paul's canonization, and for saying he hopes it will happen "in the near future."

People in Krakow have responded warmly, giving Benedict his first John-Paul sized crowds of the trip, with police estimating Sunday's crowd at 900,000 - on the order of the giant crowds who turned out for John Paul, and bigger than the roughly 300,000 who came to Benedict's Mass on Thursday in Warsaw on the first day of his trip.

Benedict made a triumphant entrance in his popemobile, riding through a sea of flags - red and white for Poland, yellow and white for the Vatican - with the choir singing the refrain, "Poland welcomes you, Poland thanks you."

Some people spent the rainy night in the meadow waiting for Benedict, while others were arriving with umbrellas, rain jackets and folding chairs.

The mood at the Mass was cheerful despite the wet weather. "We didn't mind the rain last night," said 21-year-old Katarzyna Dadek, who slept in her car waiting for Sunday's Mass. "At least we'll have something to tell our children."

Kamila Wrobel, 16, spent the night in the meadow and got soaking wet, but felt it was worth it. She rode four hours with her Catholic youth group from the town of Debica, and was present for John Paul's Mass in the meadow in 2002.

"The pope is probably in Poland for the first and last time," she said. "This is a great, great experience filled with emotion.

"When he says something in Polish, then the atmosphere becomes really very special," she said.